life, liberty, and the pursuit of vegetables!

Summer CSA Share – #18

Welcome to the 18th share of the Pitchfork & Crow CSA! Here’s what’s in the share this week:

Carrots

Celery

Romaine Head Lettuce

Summer Squash

Mixed Cucumbers – Slicers, lemons, and picklers

Mixed Melons

Broccoli

Shallots

Shishito Peppers

Lacinato Kale

Mixed Tomatoes – slicers and mixed pints

Garlic

Sweet Corn

‘Stripetti’ Spaghetti Squash

The first autumn rain of the season is a big deal on the farm. Summer rainstorms are usually fleeting and followed by more high temps, so the only preparation generally required is moving tractors under cover and rolling up car windows. The first deluge of fall is a season changer.

Seeing a big rain in the forecast in September sets a countdown for harvesting the season-long storage crops like flour corn and dry beans that have matured and already dried down in the field. We were generally successful at getting those crops in on Friday with the help of our employee/nephew before the rain arrived. The popcorn isn’t quite ready so it’s waiting out the damp, hopefully to dry enough in the sunny days next week to resist molding. We also harvested just under half of our winter squash on Sunday afternoon. Seeing these dry storage crops doomed to a rainstorm have so many weeks of dry weather and hot days is a real motivator to get them safely under cover.

In between prepping for the rain, we also spent a chunk of the week trying to contain the three not-so-little pigs. Some trouble with the electric fence charger eventually led to an uncharged fence and three curious pigs outside of the fence. We eventually corralled them into a hog panel enclosure and Jeff was finally able to get the fence charged again. But about 5 minutes after we’d let them back into the larger area they’d escaped once again, showing no fear of the electric charge. After much cajoling and enticing and general reasoning with the pigs we once again got them contained inside the hog panels. There’s not much like the feeling in the pit of your stomach when a large farm animal is trotting across an open field toward total freedom with no interest in listening to your pleas to turn around. I was perhaps the most surprised when they were once again safely fenced in.

That said, it’s time to think about buyers for these three pigs. We’ll be selling them by the half and the on-farm slaughter date is set for October 17th. If you think you might be interested, check out the details here and send us an email if you’d like to reserve a half.

Enjoy the vegetables and we’ll see you next week!

Your farmers,
Carri Heisler and Jeff Bramlett

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Here are a few recipes to get you inspired:

Spaghetti Squash with Sausage Filling

1 3 3/4- to 4-pound spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise, seeded

1 pound bulk pork sausage

1 cup chopped green bell pepper

1 cup chopped onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 cups purchased marinara sauce

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Wrap squash halves in plastic wrap. Cook 1 at a time in microwave on high until tender, about 8 minutes. Pierce plastic to allow steam to escape. Cool. Meanwhile, sauté sausage, bell pepper, onion and garlic in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat until sausage browns and vegetables are tender, breaking up sausage with back of spoon, about 12 minutes. Mix in marinara sauce.

Fill and boil a kettle of water and get all your ingredients and equipment together. You need a large, shallow pan with a lid.

Put the pasta into the pan. Quickly chop the tomatoes in half and throw them into the pan. Grate in the zest of both lemons and add the oil and salt. Add about 1 quart/1 liter of boiling water, put a lid on the pan, and bring back to a boil. Remove the lid and simmer on high heat for 6 minutes, using a pair of tongs to turn the pasta every 30 seconds or so as it cooks.

Meanwhile, remove any tough stalks from the kale or spinach and coarsely tear the leaves. Once the pasta has had 6 minutes, add the kale and continue to cook for a further 2 minutes.

Once almost all the water has evaporated, take the pan off the heat and tangle the pasta into four bowls. If you like, top with a little Parmesan.